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Data's Contractions

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It was a stupid idea in the first place. In Datalore he could have easily been suspected by Wesley with that twitch alone, and the "beautiful isn't it" comment.
 
What has been established is that Data is the perfect mimic. So apparently he could pronounce Mr. Spock's other name, never mind "can't".

the simulation still used Minuet's image as Riker's late wife
...Although Riker might have been jumping to conclusions with that one. After all, we have seen elsewhere that holocharacters are often created in the image of real people. Perhaps Riker at one point would get obsessed with hunting down the woman that the Bynars had used as their template for Minuet, and would indeed find her and marry her? Or then marry a suitable lookalike on the condition that she undergo some plastic surgery for accuracy? Or perhaps marry a hologram and adopt a kid?

It's only in the greater context of things appearing wrong that Riker can be absolutely sure that his past is being faked, really.

Timo Saloniemi

Holo-Tomalak: "That says a lot more about you than it does our mind probes!"

In retrospect, it there a more hypocritical episode than Hollow Pursuits?
 
I think Grizzly Adams or Jeremiah Johnson did not use contractions, but I cannot remember which one.
 
^ At the very least I know Worf loved saying "Can Not" over "can't" most of the time. Just something I always noticed. It definitely worked for him, I liked it.
 
celebrity-pictures-worf-deanna-troy.jpg
 
Just watching the episode "In Theory" where Data pursues a relationship ...

He just walked in to Jenna's quarters and yelled "Honey, I'm home!" ... Then just now while I'm typing this he yells at her "You're not my mother"

blah
 
Most ridiculous moment: In 'Datalore', the episode that establishes the whole 'can't talk in contractions' shtick (indeed the plot hinges on it), Picard asks Data how he is.
Response- "I'm fine".

While I don't think there was any reason Data couldn't say contractions, it was odd, to say the least, that he said one right there ;)
 
The most recent instance I can recall from the TV series is in "Descent Part II" when Picard gets hold of a weapon and tries to escape, only to encounter Data (still compromised by Lore at this point) who grabs Geordi's throat and says "Drop it, or I'll break his neck."
 
Data's favorite German philosopher was Immanuel Kannot. His favorite character in Lord of the Rings was a wood Not. And his favorite place on Earth was the I Will of Man.

Point and match. I wish the writers had thought along these lines before veering into the absurd.
 
Novel writers perhaps did (veer into the absurd, I mean). Episode writers never made a big deal of it: no story, B-story or passing joke hinged on Data's inability to use a contraction, even though some fun was made on the fact that he spoke like an upper class nerd in general.

As "Datalore" already shows, contractions weren't a surefire way to tell Data apart from imitators; the real Data used a contraction or two early on in the episode, then did the final "I'm fine", as if to disprove a false claim. Wesley no doubt learned his lesson that day, going all "Oh shit, I was betting my life on a silly mistaken belief!"...

Really, there's nothing Data can't do, as per TNG. It just takes a little practice, be it sneezing, or cracking a joke, or convincingly emoting, or convincingly using informal language in conversation.

Timo Saloniemi
 
We examine the ability of the Expansionary Fiscal Contraction (EFC) hypothesis to explain the performance of of OECD economies during times of crisis. We find some limited evidence in its favour - if public consumption is reduced in response to a fiscal crisis (as defned by a high level of debt), private consumption does seem to increase. However the size of the effect is smaller than that typically found in similar studies. Furthermore, the increase in private consumption is not usually su±cient to offset the direct e®ect of a reduction in the public consumption on output{ fiscal contractions are not literally expansionary.[FONT=arial,helvetica] [/FONT]
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Phil Farrand made an attempt to catalog them in his nitpicker's guide. Although I believe he admits his list is certainly incomplete. Still the most comprehensive collection I've seen.
 
I must point out that the premise was never that Data could not utter the sound of a contraction. Thus he could quote someone using a contraction. He could say the word "isle". In "In Theory" it might be argued that "You're not my mother" and "Honey, I'm home" were quotes, in a sense, from his research into relationships.

The premise was that, as he was formulating his own thoughts into words, he didn't have that "neural pathway" to formulate the contraction in real time. It was a linguistic, rather than verbal, defect.

As has been said, the premise was often violated. I just found one in "Suspicions" where Data says "I'm running additional diagnostics...". It can be difficult to distinguish between "I'm" and a very fast "I am", but Data's impeccable speech pacing helps here. He said "I'm".
 
Well there's the most exaggerated statement of the year. ;)

Sure, he slipped up from time to time, but I think that was mostly early on. I bet you can't name a time in season 6 when Data used a contraction, for example. Something tells me he didn't.

In the season 6 episode 'Timescape,' Data says "I'm not sure he is a Romulan."
 
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